Trollheart

All right then, time to check out the first album from our

And as noted in the OP, my first featured artist is a band I only got into in the last three or four years, despite knowing of them for decades. Somehow, though they were always mentioned in the same breath as Pallas, Marillion and IQ, I never really checked out their music. Once I did, I was sorry I had not done so earlier and they have quickly become a firm favourite of mine. So let’s delve now into the music of

Formed in 1978 in Gloucestershire in England, Pendragon were originally known as Zeus Pendragon, but quickly dropped the first part, in a similar way to how Silmarillion would become Marillion four years later. Their first album wasn’t released though until 1985, and while I had signposted a different album that I was going to look at first here, I’ve changed my mind because I want to go back to not quite the beginning, but one of their early albums, so that when I mark changes in their musical direction I have something to refer to.

Therefore the first look into this artist is this


Album title: Kowtow
Artist: Pendragon
Nationality: English
Year: 1988
Chronology: 2
The Trollheart Factor: 10

Track Listing: Saved by You/The Mask/Time for a Change/I Walk the Rope/2 AM/Total Recall/The Haunting/Solid Heart/Kowtow
Comments: I love the bouncy, almost “Market Square Heroes” nature of the opener, which fizzes with energy and enthusiasm, Clive Nolan’s peppy keyboards driving the melody along, Nick Barrett sounding in exuberant form, everything about this giving me the impression of a band who have come back after three years revitalised and full of get up and go. I found their debut, The Jewel, flawed (sorry) and disappointing in many ways, and it looks like they’re out to change that here. Great start, but then things kind of grind to a halt when we hit “The Mask”, which is clunky, boring and just doesn’t work for me anyway. “Time For a Change” then shamelessly rips off the main riff from Pat Benatar’s “Love is a Battlefield”, another upbeat track which gets the album back on course mostly.

One thing that does annoy me about Pendragon, though I love them, is their blatant plagiarism. I’ve seen them copy Pink Floyd, Supertramp and Genesis by filching often whole sections of melody, lyrics and arrangements, and I just don’t see the need for it. They’re a talented enough band without having to rip their peers off. Good stabbing keys from Nolan here again, and a lot of energy, then everything slows down for “I Walk the Rope”, nice ballad with some smooth sax from Patsy Gamble, and this sax wails on into the next one, another but I think quite superior ballad, “2 AM”, which I love everything about except the end; seems to be rushed and come to an abrupt halt as if Nick couldn’t work out how to finish it.

For a moment it looks as if it’s three for three, before “Total Recall” breaks out of its gentle intro and turns into a bit of a pompy stomper if you will. “The Haunting” has a very Genesis feel with some eighties Pink Floyd mixed in, oh and throw in a slice from Marillion’s “Incubus” off Fugazi too. Great Hammond from Nolan though, and the song being over ten minutes long goes through some considerable changes oh and look! The drum roll from “Assassing” too. Sigh. This is one aspect of Pendragon I just hate. Good guitar solo here from Barrett, and then it’s more or less basic rock for “Solid Heart”, which kind of looks back to “Saved by You” before we end on the title track, which rocks us to a decent ending, with a great hook in the fadeout.

Track(s) I liked: Everything except “The Mask”
Track(s) I didn't like: “The Mask”
One standout: “Saved by You” (though it’s a hard choice between that and “2 AM”, and “Kowtow” nearly got in too)
One rotten apple: The Mask
Overall impression: A huge improvement on their debut. Not a perfect album by any means, but streets ahead of The Jewel and beginning to point the way to stardom for this talented and prolific band who would remain at the forefront of the prog rock movement
Rating: 8.8/10

Future Plan: Lifetime Pendragon fan now, me!

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